Sanskrit
देवान्भावयतानेन ते देवा भावयन्तु वः । परस्परं भावयन्तः श्रेयः परमवाप्स्यथ ॥
devān bhāvayatānena te devā bhāvayantu vaḥ parasparaṃ bhāvayantaḥ śreyaḥ param avāpsyatha
Translation
"With this nourish ye the Shining Ones, and may the Shining Ones nourish you; thus nourishing one another ye shall reap the supremest good.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Prajapati’s speech continues: the relationship between humans and the devas (“Shining Ones”) is framed as reciprocal nourishment, not one-directional worship. That reciprocity is the mechanism the chapter is arguing for more broadly — action-as-offering sustains a mutual system rather than a private transaction, which is what makes it categorically different from action performed “for its own sake,” condemned two verses later in verse 13.